The present invention relates, in general, to electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, the semiconductor industry utilized various methods and device structures to form semiconductor devices including discrete devices and integrated circuits. Most semiconductor devices had an edge seal around the outside of the semiconductor die on which the device was formed. The edge seal had various functions including maintaining a uniform potential around the die, collecting charged contaminates, providing an electrical barrier to electrical contaminants along the edge of the active region of the die, providing a moisture barrier, and reducing cracking near the edge of the die. The edge seal normally included a metalization layer that was formed near an edge of the semiconductor device. Typically, several processing steps were required to form such edge seals. The various processing steps required to form the edge seal generally increased the cost of the semiconductor device. One example of such an edge seal was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,068 that issued to Ronald Tamura on Jun. 20, 2000.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an edge seal structure and a method of forming an edge seal that uses fewer processing steps and that has a lower cost.
For simplicity and clarity of the illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description. For clarity of the drawings, doped regions of device structures are illustrated as having generally straight line edges and precise angular corners. However, those skilled in the art understand that due to the diffusion and activation of dopants the edges of doped regions generally may not be straight lines and the corners may not be precise angles.